1. Field of the Invention
This invention is relates generally to a merchandise display system and a pusher device utilized in the system, and more specifically relates to a system that provides for greater flexibility and efficiency in use of the merchandising shelf space.
2. Background Art
Merchandising systems utilizing a series of dividers and a pusher that biases the merchandise packages along a track between the dividers so that the merchandise is brought forward to the front edge of the shelf where it will be most visible to the prospective purchaser. An early example of these merchandising systems is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,083,067 to Vos et al. It utilized a pusher system having a helical spring that pulls the pusher toward the front edge of the shelf to which the device is attached. Products are pushed by the pusher toward the front edge and when one items is removed, the spring pulls the pusher forward and that pushes the remaining products in the tray toward the front edge.
Improvements of this rudimentary device in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,083,067 included providing a flattened roll spring that is attached to the back face of the pusher, the end of the spring being attached to a front of the tray or channel. Additionally, the width of the tracks or chutes along which the merchandise items are pushed by the pusher may be made to vary so as to accommodate merchandise packages of various sizes. This is done by providing means to move the vertically standing dividers that define the tracks or chutes laterally relative to the front edge of the shelf, so that the distance between the dividers can be just slightly wider than the width of the merchandising items that are in that track. Adjoining tracks may have different widths to accommodate different sized products, so that when the products that are being carried on that shelf are rotated, the widths of the tracks can be adjusted to accommodate the sizes of the new products.
When the products from a specific track are depleted, it is not desirable for the dividers to be unsupported, because they may be liable to tipping over and falling onto the shelf, making for an unpreventable display. Accordingly, various methods of supporting the dividers while retaining the predetermined lateral spacing between the dividers have been proposed. Included in these are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,190,186 and 5,265,739 to Yablans et al. which describe and illustrate a plurality of slots at the front edge and the back of a track into which planar dividers are inserted. The slots are adjacent each other and evenly spaced so that transposing the two edges of the dividers. Additionally, a pusher is mounted to run a long a track, the pusher having a coil spring, and ends of the track having projections thereon that also fit within the slots so to position and support the tracks on the shelf, and defining the walls of the chute or track along which the merchandising products are pushed by the pusher. The track may extend along the complete width of the chute, but need not do so.
Additional improvements are found in later issued patents and in published applications, for example, upwardly directed projections evenly spaced to provide adjustable placement of the dividers which can be placed along the bottom of a supporting surface, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,328 to Mason, or projections in the form of teeth extending from one wall or both walls of the front edge and back of the shelf, as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,557 to Leahy. Disposition of the teeth in different portions of the support structure, for example, in the systems shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,041,720 and 7,216,770 allow for some variability in the connections and support structure of the tracks relative to the shelf or to a support strip along the front portion of the shelf.
What none of the prior art shelf merchandising pusher systems do lack and what is needed, however, is a system and pusher that makes best use of the available shelf space, which can provide added flexibility to the adjustable placement of both the dividers and the tracks, while making the adjustability of the tracks and dividers much easier and more efficient while not detracting from the aesthetic appearance or the working of the system.